Popular Niger Delta Elder statesman, Edwin Clark has become the latest high-profile Nigerian to wade into the leadership crisis rocking Ondo State and is calling on President Bola Tinubu to invoke the ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ for a resolution.
Africa Today News, New York understands that the South-West state has been battling a political crisis for months after Governor Rotimi Akeredolu returned from his medical trip. Since he arrived in Nigeria, the governor has been in Ibadan, Oyo State from where he carries out his duty.
His absence has thrown the state into a political quagmire as many question his state of health. But to resolve the impasse, Clark appealed Tinubu to follow the same solution used at the national level when ex-President Musa Yar’Adua was away for treatment.
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‘The ongoing impasse in Ondo State can be likened to what happened when our dear late President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was very ill and did not transmit a letter to the National Assembly in accordance with Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution, to enable the then Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to act as president,’ he said in a Sunday letter to the Nigerian leader.
According to him, when the crisis deepened, some eminent Nigerians led by a former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon suggested the ‘Doctrine of Necessity in order to solve the constitutional logjam the nation was facing’.
Africa Today News, New York reports that while the Senate acted on it, Clark is at this time calling on Tinubu to follow a similar line, work with all parties to ensure that ‘the ailing Governor of the State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu should remain in office, while the Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, retaining his position, should preside over the executive’.